Chapter 1687: Cooperation Benefits Both
When he met the Ding family at the opening ceremony of the Western Management Bureau today, Francis' emotions were relatively complicated. On the one hand, he hoped that the Ding family, as local Han wealthy businessmen and marriage partners, could help his father and son when they were in trouble. On the one hand, he believed that the Ding family could not be trusted, and that after he was imprisoned, he would definitely try his best to distance himself from the relationship between the two families.
Of course, Francis does not intend to cut off contact with the Ding family because of unsubstantiated speculation, but he believes that at least at this time, he should not take the initiative to contact the Ding family, but should place his position higher and be more reserved. Even if he is just the puppet leader of the Western Management Bureau, he is still an official of Haihanfeng. There is no reason to be humble to the civilians. And Francis also wanted to see if the Ding family would take the initiative to stick together again to maintain the relationship after realizing the status gap.
Little Francis didn't understand these ideas very well, but he also knew that his father was much better at handling such matters than he was. Although he was not happy with his father's idea of preventing him from returning to Ding's house to meet his wife, he finally followed his father's wishes and stayed at home honestly.
Facts have proved that Francis's persistence was effective. The Ding family took the initiative to visit the family that night, and it was Ding Feng who went out in person, giving them enough face.
The purpose of Ding Feng's visit is also very simple. He must now maintain a good marriage relationship with Francis and his son. If there was any misunderstanding before, then it is necessary to take this opportunity to explain it clearly. In addition to the considerations of business development, Ding Feng has also realized that Haihan actually has special regard for Francis and his son.
The father and son can be used by Haihan as prisoners of war, whether they are used as puppet tools or not, at least it means that they are of use to Haihan, at least their use is much greater than themselves - so far, The Haihan people have never invited Ding Feng or any of the Ding family members to take up positions in the new government office.
From another perspective, since the father and son are now working as errands in Haihan Yamen, it means that they have chosen to compromise and obey to a certain extent. In this way, their position is no longer Haihan's. Enemies, but collaborators in the same camp. This relationship is much closer than the relationship between the Ding family and the current government, and may even be enough to serve as a protective umbrella for the Ding family in the near future. Having someone in the government is much safer than paying for peace yourself.
Although Ding Feng is Han Chinese, he has lived in Manila for several decades and has long learned Spanish, so there is no obstacle to communicating with Francis and his son. The first thing he wanted to explain to Francis was the Ding family's attitude.
Ever since little Francis was arrested by Haihan, the Ding family has not made any noise. They neither tried to rescue Francis and his son, nor did they dare to stand up to the stage to express their attitude to Haihan officials. Ding Feng knew very well that going too far was not enough. If he couldn't wait to jump out and sever the relationship between his family and the Spaniards, it would only appear too traceable, and the people of Haihan might not be willing to trust such a duplicitous person. Therefore, Ding Feng kept the Ding family silent. Even when he later asked the Qin family for help to inquire about Francis and his son, he did so quietly and in private.
Ding Feng didn't know whether Francis and his son could learn about the outside world during their imprisonment, and he didn't know exactly when they negotiated the terms of cooperation with Haihan, so he could only assume the worst case scenario, that is, the other party knew about the Ding family. No steps were taken to rescue them during this period. As in-laws by marriage, Francis and his son had reason to be angry at the Ding family's silence. After all, the Ding family was most likely their only outside support during their imprisonment.
All Ding Feng can do now is to convince Francis and his son that the Ding family has secretly tried to rescue them, but they have never been able to get in.
"...It wasn't until seven days ago that the people entrusted by me finally confirmed your personal safety through a piece of paper, but I still don't know where the Haihan people are imprisoning you. I also want to use money to help you come out, but I really want to pray to the Buddha. I can't find the temple gate, and I'm afraid that making too much noise will attract the attention of the Haihan government, which will harm you..." Ding Feng rambled for a long time, describing how the Ding family tried to ask someone to find out their whereabouts. Then try to rescue them. These things were half-truths and half-falsities, but coming from his mouth, there were no loopholes.
As Ding Feng spoke, he carefully observed the faces of Francis and his son. Little Francis listened quite seriously, and his emotions were almost reflected on his face, while his father's face was as usual, with no hint of happiness or anger at all. The city government wanted Much deeper than my son.
After Ding Feng finished speaking, Francis slowly opened his mouth and said: "The Ding family has been worried about what happened before. But if the Ding family had made too big a move at that time, it might have made it impossible for us, father and son, to escape. This may not be a blessing in disguise."
Francis didn't mention whether he blamed the Ding family, but Ding Feng heard from his tone that at least he didn't have much resentment, and he felt a little relieved at the moment. What he is most worried about is that Francis will hold a grudge and affect the long-term relationship between the two families in the future, but now it seems that the other party is relatively calm. Regardless of whether what Francis said was sincere or not, at least it seemed that he did not intend to settle the previous matters with the Ding family.
Ding Feng felt a huge weight drop in his heart, and it became much easier to talk about the following matters. A large part of the reason for the marriage between the two families was due to profit considerations, and the situation at that time was inexplicably similar to now. Francis also acted as the official protective umbrella of the Ding family, and the Ding family took advantage of the various conveniences given by Francis. The boating business quickly expanded, and then Francis Jr. gave back to his family in the form of financial gains.
This interest transfer relationship established through marriage was operating very smoothly before the arrival of the Haihan people, and both parties had a relatively clear understanding of each other's needs. Although times have changed and the heads of families have changed in Manila, there are still many things that have not changed for these two families. As long as they are willing to join forces again, there is still room for them to operate.
"After the war, there are still two to three thousand Hispanics who are unwilling to leave. From now on, affairs related to these people will be under the jurisdiction of the Western Management Bureau. Maybe we should think of ways to arrange for these people to work for us directly or indirectly. "Since Francis is willing to communicate, Ding Feng will no longer hide his true intention. The Ding family used to be mainly engaged in shipbuilding business, but they were also involved in other land-based businesses, but the scale of their business was small and not noticeable. The local Hispanic people's family background is generally not too bad. In addition to the two main industries of navigation and commerce, they are also engaged in local agriculture and related processing industries. The Spaniards used to be the ruling class in the local area. Even when they were engaged in agriculture, they were not the kind of farmers who faced the loess and turned their backs to the sky. They were farmers who only had to give orders to laborers and slaves. In terms of assets, the average wealth of the Hispanic ethnic group is obviously much higher than that of the Han ethnic group.
The Ding family has long wanted to do business among the Hispanic ethnic group, but because the rulers are Spanish, the Hispanics have always had a condescending sense of superiority towards the Han people. This made the Ding family's related attempts very unsatisfactory, and was later forced to With no choice but to support little Francis to serve as the middleman, he achieved some results.
But at that time, Manila did not have any special management agencies for certain ethnic groups such as the Western Management Bureau and the Han Management Bureau. Even with the secret support of the city defense commander, the Ding family's management of the Hispanic group was still only moderate. The little money earned from the Spaniards was basically transferred to Francis and his son as benefits of cooperation, and not much ended up in his hands. The real profit maker is still the shipping industry.
However, after Haihan took over Manila, the business environment faced by the Ding family has also undergone some changes. The first is the impact caused by foreign counterparts. There are many Haihan private shipping companies that came to Manila with the Haihan Army, and many of them are industry giants like Zhan's Shipping Company. Their shipping capacity and shipping scope are far beyond what Ding's Shipping Company can match. In terms of business capabilities, There is also a relatively obvious gap.
Even if the Ding family is willing to spend money to build and purchase some new ships to expand its business scale, it is impossible to close this gap in the short term. The experience and professionalism of the sailors, the mature route operation strategy, and the ability to deal with large-scale maritime shipping trade. These large shipping companies from the Haihan Kingdom have too many advantages that the Ding family cannot match.
Therefore, Ding Feng does not intend to compete head-on with foreign strong players in the field of shipping. He will first honestly guard his own territory. In addition, they are taking advantage of the favorable location and people to try to be the first to seize the business related to the Hispanic people. At present, the people most likely to help the Ding family implement this plan are naturally the Francis father and son who have just come back.
"With all due respect, although the Haihan people gave me the position of director, what I can do now is extremely limited. Most of the time, I can only play the role of a spectator in the Western Management Bureau." Francis did not try to cover up. Instead, he told Ding Feng frankly about his dilemma. He knew that there was no use in hiding the truth on this issue. As long as Ding Feng's request could not be realized, his status as a puppet in the Western Management Bureau would be exposed immediately.
Although Ding Feng had expected this, he was still a little disappointed when he heard Francis admit it personally. However, his views on Francis's position are similar to his son-in-law Francis: "The Haihan people have arranged this, and they may not just use you as a puppet. Maybe they will wait until you are familiar with the affairs of the Western Management Bureau." Slowly delegate power to you. The top priority is to make the Haihan people aware of your familiarity with the situation of the local Hispanic people and to perform well in the official position of director."
Francis said: "This is not as easy as you think. The officials sent by Haihan to manage the Western Management Bureau are very capable. It is said that they are capable people specially transferred from the north of the Ming Dynasty. To be honest, I have heard his comments about the Western Management Bureau. After the work arrangement, I feel that I am really indispensable in this organization. Even if Haihan people are willing to give me a chance to perform, I may not be able to do better than him.”
Francis' tone was slightly frustrated, but that was indeed the truth. The field of civil affairs management is relatively unfamiliar to him, and naturally it is far inferior to Ge Yong, who has received specialized training and has rich practical experience in this field. If work ability is to be used as the criterion for competition, even if it is three or five Francis tied Together they are no more useful than Ge Yong.
Ding Feng shook his head and said: "You are a fan of the authorities. Do the Haihan people use you because they have taken a fancy to your ability in this field? Then maybe they should ask you to lead troops. You should think about what you are good at, Haihan people What the Han people need from you should be the right direction for you to seek a breakthrough.”
After hearing these words, Francis suddenly felt a sense of enlightenment. What he had always worried about was that his professional ability was inferior to others, but in fact, the reason why the Shanghai Han people used him had basically nothing to do with his professional ability. What they need is a person who has prestige in the minds of Hispanic people and whose words have weight, and they just meet this requirement. If you want to perform well in your current position, you probably still have to work hard in this direction.
Whether the Ding family can control the trade share related to the Hispanic people in the future depends largely on whether Francis can provide resources to the Ding family through official channels. To achieve this, Francis must work in the West. For the management bureau to truly take charge, it must have certain authority. Ding Feng is actively offering suggestions now, hoping that Francis can change the current situation quickly so that he can help the Ding family implement this plan.
The two talked secretly late into the night. Little Francis listened with interest for a while at first, but soon fell into fatigue. He is not very interested in these political and business collusion matters, and he does not like to scheming with others. Instead of spending time studying these "conspiracies", he would rather go back to the Ding family early to see the wife he misses very much. But at this time, the curfew had already started. Neither Ding Feng nor little Francis could leave the city. They could only wait until the city gates opened the next day.
Ding Feng and Francis were both in their fifties, and by the middle of the night, their spirits could no longer hold up. In the end, Francis took the initiative to propose a break, and the specific matters could be left to be discussed tomorrow. Anyway, he is now a casual employee in the Western Management Bureau. According to Ge Yong's arrangement, he only needs to go to order a meal in the morning and sign in after lunch. If he has nothing to do in the afternoon, he can leave early. There is plenty of time. Study the plan proposed by Ding Feng.
(End of chapter)